Autism Network Scotland – Terminology

 

The Autism Network Scotland website will tend to use identity first language, such as “autistic”, “autistic person”, and “autistic individual”. We understand that there is no universally agreed upon terminology to use when discussing autism, and we fully respect individual people’s choices on how they wish to talk about and describe themselves. We share the belief that autism is seen as a part of an individual’s identity, and not a separate add on, which has been favoured by the autistic community in recent years (Kenny et al, 2016). We fully respect the thoughts and views of individuals, and we aim to regularly review our approach to language and adapt as required.

 

Reference

Kenny, L., Hattersley, C., Molins, B., Buckley, C., Povey, C. and Pellicano, E. (2015) ‘Which terms should be used to describe autism? Perspectives from the UK autism community’, Autism, . doi: 10.1177/1362361315588200